Molly Gadenz and Dave Bedford of the Lower Regents Coalition write: The Regent’s Canal from Limehouse Basin to Mile End Road in London is recognised as one of the UK’s very best green spaces, as one of a record number of parks and green spaces to collect a Green Flag Award. The section of the Regent’s Canal between Limehouse and Mile End Road in Tower Hamlets has been recognised by the Green Flag Award Scheme as one of the very best in the country. This part of the Regent’s joins over 100 other green spaces awarded recognition in London. This…
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There have been several sightings of Small Blue butterflies in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park during June 2019. This is the third year running that this nationally-rare butterfly has been recorded in the park, following an earlier sighting in 2011. The 2017 sighting is described here. The first sighting this year was on 1st June, during local butterfly expert Terry Lyle’s regular butterfly transect. It was a female, nectaring on Kidney Vetch, the Small Blue’s caterpillar food plant, in Scrapyard Meadow. It was captured for confirmation of identification and photography (see photo above by Ken Greenway), before being released on the…
James Clark of Malmesbury Residents Association writes: Malmesbury Estate residents planted some fantastic nectar-rich flowers this spring, as the first stage of a project to green the estate. Our Residents Association was awarded a Tower Habitats biodiversity grant from the Tower Hill Trust earlier this year for the Malmesbury Green Project. This will introduce planting and other features for wildlife on a number of sites across the estate. Planting will include a mixed native hedge, wild flowers, bulbs and lots of nectar-rich flowers, and we also plan to introduce bird boxes and insect homes. We will consult residents on what…
The Lower Regents Coalition has got together with The Wildlife Gardeners of Haggerston to install over 75 metres of floating islands the Regent’s Canal with support from the Canal & River Trust, the Environment Agency, Moo Canoes, the Ragged School Museum and ecology solutions provider Biomatrix Water. The project has been made possible with a grant from the Mayor of London’s Greener City Fund. The two groups have teamed up with the aim of creating a chain of diverse aquatic vegetation that will eventually connect up our two patches, in Tower Hamlets and Hackney respectively, helping to make the Regents…
A pair of Blue Tits is currently raising a family in the barrel of Mudchute’s restored Ack Ack Gun. Mudchute was a part of the Home Front during the Second World War, helping to defend London and its docks against German bombing by housing a set of anti-aircraft guns. With the assistance of a generous grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, one of these gun sites, complete with its anti-aircraft gun, or Ack Ack Gun, was restored in 2012. Now the Blue Tits have found a more peaceful use for the gun. The lovely photo above, by Richard Saville, shows…
Jayne Clavering of Burcham Street Gardeners writes: We are excited and proud to present the Burcham Street Gardeners pond and wildlife corner! After a previous highly unsuccessful attempt at creating a pond and bog garden, the Project Pond master plan has been to reinstate not only a pond but also introduce a wildlife corner within a small walled community garden to create a haven for local wildlife, plants and insects for local residents and community centre users to use, enjoy and learn. To ensure we didn’t make the same mistakes as we did with our last disastrous effort! The Tower…
Michelle Lindson from the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park writes: Thank you to everyone who attended and took part in the fun and informative events held by Nature and Us over the weekend as part of City Nature Challenge 2019! City Nature Challenge is an international competition between cities to find the most wildlife across the city over a four-day period. This year’s competition was held over 26-29 April, and London was one of six UK cities, and over 160 cities worldwide, competing to record the greatest number of wild plants, fungi and animals, using the iNaturalist app. London’s…
Mark Patterson of Api:Cultural, a consultancy working with businesses and communities to benefit London’s pollinators, writes: On Easter Sunday, I led a free Bee Identification Walk for the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. We were lucky with great weather, and 20 people enjoyed Cemetery Park at one of its loveliest times of year. The tremendous variety of spring wild flowers and bulbs attract a really good range of bees and other pollinators, and we recorded 15 species of bees on the walk. This is a list of what we saw: Chocolate Mining Bee (Andrena scotica) – very numerous; Grey-patched…
On 10 April, Shirley Rodrigues, London’s Deputy Mayor for the Environment, launched a report which shows the speed with which London has delivered on its drive to meet its objectives on climate resilience and biodiversity. And Tower Hamlets is the borough leading the way. Rodrigues led the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) Environment Team when the First green roof policy was included in the London Plan in 2008. “I have been delighted to witness the patchwork of green roofs and walls spreading across London’s skyline, alongside the establishment of a world-class industry that is working towards the greening of London,” said…
Klaudija Alasauskaite of Trees for Cities writes: On Saturday 30 March, Trees for Cities ran two big community tree planting events in Tower Hamlets, planting native trees in Langdon Park and an orchard in Victoria Park. At Langdon Park, on the community planting day 50 adults and 23 children planted 16 trees. Everyone enjoyed themselves in the lovely weather. In total, Langdon Park has received 39 new trees through this project, with the rest being planted with local schools, corporate volunteers and community groups. Most of these are native trees, including Silver Birch, Wild Service Tree and Wild Cherry, which…